Door operating and locking mechanism



Nov. 22, 1932. F. G. BUTLER DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING MECHANISM FiledSept. 13, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 3mm/tov Fra/nk G. Butler Nov. 22, 1932. F.G. BUTLER 1,888,217

DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING MECHANISM Filed sept. 15,'1929 2 sheets-sheet2 l Patented Nov. 22, 1932 FRANK GQBUTLER, or FARGO, Nonrn nAxorA noonOPERATING AND LOCKING mnonANrsM Application lcd September 13, 1929.Serial No. 392,352.

My invention Arelates to door l,Operating Y means particularly adaptedfor the operation of garage doors' where it is desired to provide meansfor opening the doors readily either from the inside or the outside ofthe door and to hold and supportV the doors against moving shut whiledriving into the garage;

A feature of theinvfention resides a simple inexpensive structureV whichis applicable to garage doors designed with means which may be operatedfrom the outside by the pulling of the operating cord to either open orclose the same, the `operating cord being adapted to lift the dooropening and closing mechanism out of a latched position so that thedoors may be operated, and suitable brace arms being provided which holdthe doors braced open and equally `hold the doors braced in closedposition. I

It is also a feature of my invention to provide means for electricallyreleasing the catch means so that the doors may be operated when theelectrical means is operated by suitable switch means to permit thedoors to be operated to open the Ysame from the outside. By this meansthe autoist may drive upto his garage andunlock and operate the switchwith a key and then bysuitable hand operated ropes or cables operate thedoors to open the sameand drive intothe garage without getting out ofthe automobile. f v

VThese features together with otherdetails and objects of my inventionwill be Vmore clearly vand fully set forth in the specification andclaims.

kIn the drawings I have illustrated a perspective view in Figure 1 whichillustrates Y a portion of-a garage and which shows the operatingcablesor ropes in operating position.

Figure 2l illustrates a diagrammaticdetail vof my door operatinmechanism, looking up toward the ceiling o? the garage;

Figure 3 illustrates a detail of a portion of my door operatingmechanism. Figure 4 illustrates a detail of the electrical releasingmeans.y u

Figure 5 diagrammatically illustrates a de- '50 tail of Va garageshowing another forml oi?V my door operating mechanism, looking up Atoward the ceiling. p Figure 6 is a perspective detail looking upwardlytoward the ceiling in the garage employing my door operating mechanism.Q55

Figure 7 is aperspective'detail of oneofv the doors, showing the lockingmeans for the same. .l j Figure 8 diagrammatically illustrates a portionofthe locking mechanism forthe doors illustrated i-n Figure 7 showing asec'- tion near the bottom of `the doors.

Figure 9 illustrates diagrammaticallythe relative position" of the doorsat`the' topshowing the locking means illustrated in 65. Figure 7.

My door operating mechanismY is designed to be supported on the ceilingof the garage asillustrated in Figures 2, 5 and-6, and is provided withan operating. and controlling beam 10 which is slidably supported Y inthe brackets 11 tothe ceiling or in the top of the garage in a manner sothat in the operation Vof the beam 10 `the doors 12 of the garage may beoperated toV open or close the same. v 1 v The operating or control beam10 is connectedV by the brace members 13 to the respective doors 12 byhinges'lli. Inl the structure illustrated inFigure 5 and also Figure 806 the doors 12 are connected to the controlling beam .10 by the krods15.` These rods 15are connected on one end by a-crossmember 16 to thecontrolling beam 10 while the other end is pivotally connected in theleye fmembers A 16 to the doors. The controlling beaml() is formed with ashoulder member 18"as illustrated Vin Figure 2 which engages with theinner bracket 11 as illustrated in the drawings when the control beam 10is set to hold 90 the doors 12 locked in closed position. The beam 10carries' a cam lifting member 20 which is pivoted at 21 in the controlbeam 10 and by means of an operatingv rod 22 which extends through theguidingbracket 23 95 the rrod 22 is held slidable so that it can be,moved to operate thecam`20. The cam 20 is positioned in a/center slot 24in the operating beam IOAand'it-s'operating end 25 'is normally heldaway from' the inner surface of @he 10o bracket 11 by the coil spring 26which normally holds the parts in the position illustrated in Figure 3.When the operating rope or cable 27 which is connected to the front endof the rod 22 is pulled, the cam 20 will be operated to lift the controlbar 10 sufciently to permit the latch shoulder 18 to clear the innersurface of the bracket 11 and the continued pull on the cable 27 willpull the4 operating and controlling beam 1() forward toward the doors12. The beam 10 when released from the position just described may beoperated readily by the cable 27 to force the bracket arms 13 againstthe doors'12 to open the saine very easily. rIhisris accomplished morereadily for the reason that the arms 13 have the ends which are hingedlyconnected to the doors 12 positioned closely adjacent the center pointbetween the .doors or closely adjacent the operating control beam 10.Thus a strong leverage is directed against the doors to open them andthey may also be pushed by the front end 28 of the control beam 10. f

. The cable 27 runs along longitudinally of the control beam 10 to thepulley 29 positioned near the doors 12 and from the pulley 29 rims overto the pulley 3() and down to the weight 31 then up to the pulley 32 andon out of the garage to the anchoring point 33, as illustrated in Figure1, adjacent the drive to the garage.

The control beam 10 is also provided with a latch lug 35'and anoperating cam 36, the cam 36 being similar in function to the cam 2O andpositioned in the beam in aA similar manner ahead ofthe cam 20 in theslot 37. When the cable 27 is operatedto cause the control beam 10 to belifted in a mannerto release the catch lug 18 from the bracket 11 andthe continued pull of the cable operates to open the doors 12, the catchlug 35 slips through `the forward bracket 11, which V is po'- sitionedadjacent the doors 12, and tlie catch lug 35 engages on the other sideof this brack` et 11 to hold the doors in open position. The weight ofthe control beam 10 is suiiicient to cause it to drop into lockingposition byV gravity.

Vhen it is desired to close the doors from the open position illustratedin dotted outline in Figures 2 and 5, the cable 38 is engaged and thiscable operates the cam 36 against the action of the spring 39 whichnormally holds the cam the' saine as the spring 26 and thus elevates thecontrol beam 10 to permit the latch lug 35 to lift out of engagementwith the front bracket 11 and the continued pulling of the cable 38draws the control beam 10 into inward position within the garage andsimultaneously closes the doors 12. Thus the latch lug v18`on the beam10 holds the doors in closed position when en'- gaging with the innerbracket 11 and when the latch lug 35 is moved tofengage with Vpulley 41and Vdown-'toi the weight 42 and up to lthe pulley 43 andfroin there outto the point of anchoring 33. The cable 38 may also Abe held from a beamdepending adjacent the freeien'd of the cable 27.'

The control beam 10 slides back and forth in the brackets :11 andtheilatch lugs 18 and 35 hold the same against longitudinal movement inthe respective positions described. It is therefore apparent that thegarage doors 12 may be easily opened by my door operating mechanism. s YY I provide a means of locking the control beam l() against movement byan electrically controlled latch dog 44 which is pivoted at 46 on thebracketV 23 and thevfree end 45 of which engages in a suitable notch inthe rod 22 as illustrated in Figure 4. By means of suitable electricwires running from the lsollenoid -which is adapted tolift the latch 44out of engagement withthe rod 22, and a lsuitable source of electric'energynot illustrated,` noi` i s theV particular wiring illustrated asthis is of ordinary construction, the operation of the control beam 10to open the doors 12 may be controlled electrically. I provide astandard 48 outsideof the garage which projects upward and in which asuitable lock 49 is provided in the top of the standard which is adaptedto be operated by suit-able key. The operation of the lock by the cortrect key will operate thejsolenoid47 toflift the'ilatch 44 and thuspermit'tliel operation ofopening the doors 1.2 bypulling on the ca#ble-27. j Thisl lprovides an electric locking means which prevents thedoors`12 `from 'be-v ing opened untilthey are'releasedfby means of a keyinthe lock 49 and thus'I provide ra vvery simpleand yet effectiveelectrical locking means for my door operating mechanism. I alsoprovidean automaticallyV operated lock catch in the forni of a rod 50 which maybe attached to one or both of the doors 12 and which extends and ispivotally supported through the brackets 51 as illustrated in Figure 7The rod 50 is bent on its end to provide an upper lug portion 52 whichengages againstA a pin 5,3 positioned at the top ofthe door so that asthe doors are brought toward closed. position the lug` 52 will actasa'cam in engagement with. the pin 53' to tiirn"tlie rod 50. The lowerend of the rod lisf-formed with a hook 54whicli is adapted to engageover tlie'pin 55 in the operation.,orrotation of the rod 50 and thusdrawthe lower part of thedoor 4or doors 12 into tight closed positi-on.With this mechanism and my easy simple means of operating garage doors,I provide an economical structure for autoists Vwith which they mayequip their garage to provide a very simple and effective door operatingand locking mechanism having all of the advantages of holding the doorsfirmly locked closed and rigidly locked open, so that the doors cannotblow shut or come against the car While driving in or out of the garage.

My garage doors l2 may be operated from the inside of the garage toclose or open the same by pulling upon the Weighted members 3l or 42respectively, the Weighted members acting as handles in conjunction Withthe cables 2? and 38.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described the principlesof my door operating and locking mechanism and While I have endeavoredto represent the best embodiment thereof to set forth the uses Vof thesame, I desire to have it understood that the drawings are onlysuggestive of a means of carrying out the invention and that featuresand details may be applied or varied Within the scope of the followingclaims Without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim: f

l. A door operating and locking mechanism including, a controlling beammember, means for supporting said beam slidable longitudinally thereof,connecting arms adapted to connect said beam with the doors,catch meansfor holding said beam against longitudinal movement, means for liftingsaid beam into releasing position and simultaneously operating said beamto open or close the doors.

2. A door operating and locking mechanism comprising,

catch means for holdingsaid member against longitudinal movement,releasing means for moving said beam member to release the same, doors,arms for connecting said doors to said operating member, means foroperating said releasing means to release said operating member andpermit the same to slide longitudinally to open or close said doors.

3. A garage door operating means including, arms connected to saiddoors, a slidable member connecting With said arms, catch means forholding said slidable member locked in closed position, and catch meansfor holding said slidable memberV in open position, meansfor liftingsaid slidable member out of engagement with said catches and Y cablemembers connected to and operating said lifting means extending to theoutside of the garage from said catch means whereby the engagement ofsaid cable means permits the operator to open pulling on said cables.

4. A garage door operating mechanism ina longitudinally operating-I beamlmember slidable through bearings,

or close said doors by cluding door brace members hingedly connectedthereto, a longitudinally slidable and vertically movable unitarylatching and operating member to which said brace members are hingedlyconnected, lcatch means cooperable with said latch, cable means foroperating said latch member in a manner to automatically lock said doorsopen or closed, when this position of the door is reached by pulling onsaid cable members.

5. A door operating mechanismy including,

doors adapted to svving opeiinand shut, a

.slidable latching member, brace members pivotally connected to saidlatching member and the free `ends of said doors, cam means foroperating said latchingmember to unlatch said latohing member, and cablemeans connected to and operating said cam means and to simultaneouslyoperate said doors into 'i open or closed position.

door operating mechanism including, a series of doors, a latch means forholding said doors in open or latch means having brace arms connectingwith said doors, means for releasing said latch, and electrical meansvfor unlocking said releasing means for said latch means to permit thesame to be operated to open said doors. Y Y

8. A garage door operating mechanism including, a latchmember, cableoperating means, brace members connecting said latch memberto a pair of`doors, at catch cooperable with said latch, means operable by s'aldcable to disconnect said latch from said catch, electrical means forlocking said latch means against operation, and means for operating saidlatch means when saidelectrical means has unlocked the same by saidcable members which may be pulled to openor close said loo closedposition, said*v

